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Helena wants to steal an hour of your life

Editor:

Our elected officials are busy in Helena wanting to steal an hour a day from each of us during the summer months. Senate Bill 206 will do away with Daylight Savings Time.

With Daylight Savings, we gain an hour in the summer so we can enjoy our evenings outdoors. If this bill passes, it would mean our longest day of the summer would end around 8:30 p.m. and the sun would start peaking through your bedroom widow around 4:15 a.m. This bill is gaining a lot of traction in our Legislature.

The Senate has already passed this bill.

The vote in the House is coming up quickly and could become law unless people start thinking about the ramifications this will have on their lives during the summer months. You need to let your House representatives know how you feel, ASAP!

As a golf course owner and golf enthusiast, I am concerned about our golf leagues and regular play times that will be cut short due to the lost hour each day. Golf leagues would probably have to start in late May and end in July in order to get done by sunset. The other option would be to start at 4:30 p.m., but that would not be feasible for the 9-to-5 working Joe or Josephine. Some of our tournaments held early in the year and later in the year would be tough to complete before sunset. Would you be able to get in a round of golf after work?

This would happen to all golf courses in Montana. The lost revenue to support this type of recreational activity would have a serious economic effect.

If you don’t golf, think about going fishing after work or taking your boat to the lake. What about taking the camper out to the park? What about your kid’s baseball games? Soccer games? Your power bill? The list could go on and on. My point is to have you think about what you like about your summer after being held hostage by a long, cold winter.

One of our legislators, justifying his vote, was quoted in the Havre Daily saying, “It takes me a month to adjust” to the time change. Maybe the answer is to stay with Daylight Savings Time all year. If this bill passes the House and becomes a law, the economic and social adjustments will be harder for all of us, and it will be too late to voice your opinion.

Go online and look up “Montana Legislature Senate Bill 206” and educate yourself on what is happening. You can also go to “Montana House of Representatives” and leave a message for members of the House who are getting ready to vote based on public opinion and vote against SB206.

Please don’t hesitate as the vote is near. Every outdoor enthusiast knows exactly what that extra hour of sunshine means during the summer months.

Greg Baltrusch

Havre

 

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